Dubai: A 33-year-old Indian worker in Saudi Arabia was arrested for allegedly attempting to cast a 'magic spell' on his employer.

The man has admitted to committing the crime and said he wanted to cast a magic spell on his employer in order to get rich quickly, police said.

The man, who was not identified, received an envelope from India containing "suspicious material" with which he allegedly wanted to cast a magic spell on his employer, but the envelope was seized before he could collect it, they said.

Media report said that an official at the post office thought the envelope from India addressed to the man contained something suspicious. The envelope was later found to contain papers with strange writings used for magic and sorcery spells and the Criminal Investigations Department was informed.

According to the paper, a trap was set in which the postman was replaced with a police detective and the addressee was called to receive the envelope.

He was then asked to name the contents of the envelope, to which he replied that the contents were supposed to make him rich instantly. The worker was then taken in for investigations. Practicing witchcraft and sorcery are illegal under Saudi Arabia's Islamic sharia law.

According to the newspaper, Jeddah Police spokesman First Lt Nawaf Al-Bouq confirmed that the worker has been detained pending complete investigations.